Tadka Dal — Spiced Indian Lentils

If I had to list my all-time favorite dal recipe it would be this.  

Simple, satiating, and soul-comforting, dal tadka.

The taste I grew up with.

Mixed Vegetabe Stew — Sambar

The almost steady drizzle that had been falling for the last two days has come to an end and the blaze of sunlight is streaming in through the slightly ajar main door. I am sitting at my desk, a light pashima silk around my neck, sipping my second cup of morning tea and enjoying the solitude. It is a beautiful day. The last two days, I simply couldn’t summon the energy to take pictures and write recipes. I was delighting in the rain, enjoying the grey sky with the occasional peak of the sun. I had been waiting for this for a while. Perhaps ever since I got back from the pouring monsoon in Kerala. I’m totally loving the winter showers, shallow puddles and chill in the air. Aha.

I’ve had this recipe for sambar in my draft since last week. Sambar is a hearty curried vegetable soup prepared with yellow lentils, vegetables and spices. This dish is said to have originated in the state of Tamil Nadu and soon became an all time favorite veggie dish in South India. It is one of the main items in the Kerala sadya and is quite nourishing as well as tasty. The recipe requires a bit of time, but you can easily rustle up the curry by using readymade sambar masala powder available in Indian specialty stores. Make sure to get a good quality masala mix. I like Brahmins sambar powder that is available in the stores in Kerala. But remember, it is well worth the effort to prepare it from scratch.

There are different versions of samabar in response to different regions as well as personal taste. My family prefers this dish with lots of mixed vegetables and the lingering flavors of tamarind and asafetida. I use vegetables like carrots, potato, drumsticks, raw bananas, yam, green beans, ash gourd and snake gourd. Carrot, drumsticks and beans are cut into 2-inch sticks and the rest of the vegetables are diced into big chunks. You can use any seasonal vegetables or swap around the veggies to suit your taste.